A good defense is still a good idea, we feel strongly about the possibliity of collapse of the current financial order... there are some things even you can do as a hedge against further economic meltdown, if you dont like what is happening, choose not to spend your money there. Boycotts are an active way to protest against the overwhelming amount of corporate interest in you.
They say the best defense is a good offense, but sometimes it's the exact opposite. If you have a good defense, you don't need to worry about what offense the other team has. Such is the case with the coming financial collapse.
Readers of this publication will know by now that the collapse of the current global financial order is a mathematical certainty at this point. You will also be familiar with how the banksters plan to use the chaos created in the wake of that collapse to re-order the financial, monetary, and political system to further consolidate their control over world affairs. This is the “problem-reaction-solution” idea that has been articulated at length in the alternative media of late, whereby the very people who are in the position to cause the problem (the banksters rigging the markets, creating the debt bubbles, puppeteering the bailouts, and performing the quantitative easing) are in the position to benefit from the proposed “solutions” to these problems (deepening of international monetary controls, deepening of political and monetary integration between nations, steps toward global government and one world financial system, implementation of total surveillance cashless society). In this case, all they have to do is create the chaos by crashing the system and the public will soon be clamoring for the banksters and their political puppets to “save” them from the collapse.
But in this case, a good defense is the best offense. If a sufficient mass of the people are independent, self-sufficient, self-organized, and willing and able to detach themselves from the grid, it will be impossible for the banksters to create the chaos that they need to sell their phony solutions. By taking a few simple steps, you can help to position yourself to minimize the fallout from whatever cataclysm the powers-that-shouldn't-be have planned. By so doing, you can not only take your own family's future into your own hands, you can also set an example for others to follow. And perhaps the best part about preparing for a calamity is that even if (by some miracle) nothing were to happen, you would still be ahead of the game in being more independent than before, and the banksters and their cronies would have less of a grip over you.
With all of that in mind, let's take a look at what you can do to unhook yourself from the system and secure your finances to survive the coming monetary collapse:
Take your money out of the banks
It's such a simple idea that it doesn't occur to most people to do it: stop feeding the beast. We do it every day, whether it be in the choice of what clothes we buy, or where we buy our groceries, or, perhaps more to the point, where we save our money. Every time we pay money to one of the big multinationals that sits on the corporate roster of the Council on Foreign Relations or shop at a store that sells cheap goods made with Chinese sweatshop labor, we are tacitly supporting that system. And when we park our money in an account with one of the Big Six banks that built up the subprime mortgage bubble and then siphoned trillions of dollars out of the Treasury by way of the Federal Reserve (all backed up by the blood, sweat and tears of the tax serfs, no less), we are tacitly helping them to achieve the monopoly of power they are hoping to achieve. How do we stop it? Simple. Boycott.
Boycotts have gotten a bad rap in recent years. They are often associated with fringe movements, ridiculed as ineffective, or dismissed as being “unamerican” by those who didn't study history enough to understand that the Boston Tea Party was part of a tea boycott that had been enacted to protest the 1767 Tea Act. And we might remember who ultimately ended up winning that dispute...
But still, maybe the critics have a point. After all, when was the last time a major corporation was brought down by a boycott?...Actually, new scientific research bolsters the idea that the boycott is still one of the most effective methods for the public to leverage their power and hit the monopolists where it counts: in their bottom line. A 2011 study from Northwestern University demonstrated not only that boycotts are effective, but that the bigger the target, the more effective the boycott will be.
We can see the fruits of this idea in many different venues. On the Internet, a fierce boycott and public pressure campaign forced several big name companies to back away from SOPA and PIPA, the legislation working its way through congress last year that would have imposed draconian new controls over the Internet in the name of “protecting copyright.” In the stores, a major boycott and public awareness campaign has helped to drastically reduce the amount of rBGH milk being sold. On the public health front, a new campaign to boycott GMO foods is under way, and it's picking up steam as more people become aware of the GMO issue.
On the banking front, there is also a major boycott happening, and it is having dramatic effects. The Community Banking Initiative in the US is reporting that over 1.5 million people joined credit unions in the year and a half period from the start of 2009. In the UK, over half a million people have joined a credit union this year. Why is this significant? Because by transferring their money from the vault of one of the big six banks into a credit union, those people are simultaneously draining the coffers (and thus the arsenal) of the banksters while empowering their own community (which benefit from loans from the credit union). Why have you not heard about this phenomenon? Good question. It almost makes you wonder what big corporations control the major media, and what their ties are to the banking system, doesn't it?
The decisive blow has not been struck yet, of course. Far from it. In fact, there are worrying signs that the big banks are actually getting bigger as a result of the redistribution taking place in this post-Lehman economy. The Big Six have increased their share of total bank assets by 7% in the last four years. But if more people could learn the value of saving at local institutions, smaller banks, and credit unions, the Big Bank Boycott could yet help to back the global economy away from the brink.
Invest in local alternative currencies
No matter where you are right now, chances are there's a local alternative currency within driving distance that can help you to facilitate exchange in your community without need of those funny green pieces of paper known as Federal Reserve Notes. From towns across the United States to communities in Canada, the UK, Europe and elsewhere around the globe, there are customers purchasing products directly from small businesses without resorting to that fiat funny money that the politicians cram down everyone's throats through “legal tender” laws.
The Bristol pound is in the news this week, but Londoners might prefer the Brixton pound. Not in the UK? How about Davis Dollars in California, BloomingHours in Indiana, Bristol Bucks in Vermont, or hundreds of other variations from coast to coast and around the world. Often these currencies are organized around a simple concept, such as a 1:1 parity with the legal tender currency, with the proviso that it can only be spent at participating businesses in the local community. The downside, of course, is that it's difficult to spend. You can't buy the latest iThing with a community currency. But this is offset by the fact that the currency itself helps to facilitate local trade, and build up the local economy.
Exactly why this is important is not immediately apparent to those who are still living in something approaching a healthy, thriving economy. But try asking the people of Greece why local currencies are important. They learned the hard way what the collapse of a large, bloated, centrally-administered currency does to the local economy. For the past year, they've been trying to put in place the very local community currency system that can help them to keep trade going, even after all the Euros in the area have dried up or become stuck in the banksters' vaults. Alternative currencies like the TEM have helped local businesses in Volos thrive in the midst of stagnation, and there are signs the idea is catching on.
But imagine how much more resilient a community would be if it had a thriving alternative currency in place before the monetary collapse. Right now, the dollar (or pound or peso or Euro or yen or won or...) is the major leverage that the central bankers have over the population. By building up local currencies that can survive even after a staged banking collapse, the people win and local businesses thrive.
Prepare an emergency kit...and keep expanding it
We all know the details of the emergency preparedness kits we're meant to keep on hand in the event of a natural disaster: food and water for three days, flashlight, batteries, hand crank radio, first-aid kit. The basics. No one is disputing that this is just good common sense, and any household that doesn't have these basic supplies is courting disaster.
...But why should we only be prepared for three days? With the possibility of bank holidays, EMP takedowns of the electric grid, massive disasters like Hurricane Katrina intentionally made even worse by the bureaucrats at FEMA, false flag terrorist attacks, and a plethora of other potential problems always a distinct possibility, there is no harm in preparing for an even longer state of emergency. In fact, once you have your basic three-day disaster kit in place there's nothing wrong with expanding that kit so it can last longer.
Of course, when preparing to wait out longer emergencies things become more complicated. Stockpiling three days' worth of water is feasible, but three week’s worth? Three months' worth? Not likely. A quality water filter is in order. Similarly with stockpiling food. Careful consideration has to be made in choosing what kinds of items to stock, how long they will last, and how long they can be kept for. The best way to make these decisions, like almost any other purchase, is via word of mouth. Consult people you know, go to local prepping expos, or consult the web. There is plenty of information out there on these matters.
Keep some gold and silver coins on hand
This shouldn't need to be said, but let's say it anyway: precious metals have always been exchangeable for goods, and so long as humans walk the earth they always will be. No matter what is happening in the outside world, you'll be able to facilitate some trading with gold and silver coins. Keep at least some of your precious metals in gold and silver bullion, and keep at least some of it in your direct physical possession for use during emergency events. Of course, part of the responsibility of having valuables on you is that you'll have to also be prepared to defend them, but this is what disaster readiness is all about. Taking responsibility and being prepared.